‘It's impossible to claim that cycling is a clean sport because it isn't,’ Oscar Freire
Oscar Freire who recently resigned from professional cycling has noted that it is impossible to believe that the sport is completely clean.
The cyclist spent almost one and a half decade in the peloton and definitely understands the different levels of the game.
He told the Spanish newspaper ABC, “It remains impossible to state that this is a clean sport, because it isn't. It's not like it was before...but there are some riders who respect the norms and others who do not. Just like in all professions".
"The problem with cycling is that many people aren't made to be cyclists and it's better that they go elsewhere rather than fill it with dirt".
“It was always very odd to see ‘average' riders who suddenly finished with the first five [of the overall classification] of the Tour's mountain stages".
The 36-year-old marked his professional debut with Team Vitalicio Seguros in 1998 and spent a period of two-years with the team.
He rode for Team Mapei-Quick Step through 2000-02 and represented the Dutch side Team Rabobank for the maximum number of nine years before announcing his retirement at the end of 2011 season.
Freire came out of his retirement in 2012 and joined Team Katusha to continue his professional crusade with the 2012 UCI Road World Championships as his biggest goal.
He bagged stages at the Santos Tour Down Under and the Vuelta a Andalucia along with a second place finish at the E3 Harelbeke and the Brabantse Pijl 2012.
The Spaniard finished fourth at the Amstel Gold Race, seventh at the Milan-San Remo and could not secure any better than the 10th overall position at the UCI Road World Championships 2012.
Oscar holds the honour of winning the UCI Road World Championships, Elite Men’s Road Race for a maximum number of three times, during 1999, 2001 and the 2004 editions of the event.
When asked about a solution to clean the sports from the doping abuse, his answer was rather a radical one, stating that UCI should get rid of all the incompetent people who do the testing.
Freire believes that there is no use of having such people around, if they are unable to spot the dopers and the organisation should replace them with someone competent.
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